Richter, The Enigma (II)

A moving testimony

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Posthumous memories from the greatest pianist of all time.

At the end of his life – he died on August 1st, 1997 - the great Russian pianist agreed to talk in front of a camera to Bruno Monsaingeon and to recollect his beginnings. In a conversation interspersed with fascinating archive footage, Richter presents us with his memoirs from beyond the grave.

From his birth, in Ukraine in 1915, Richter was akin with the piano. He told his friends he was going to become a pianist. Richter also evokes his unusual apprenticeship to the piano, his meeting with the famous professor Heinrich Neuhus and with the singer Nina Dorliac who became his companion. His recollections include memories of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, many of whom were his partners and friends, David Oïstrakh, Benjamin Britten, Serge Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, whom we discover with him in these archives never released before.

Composed of two seventy-seven-minute episodes, this film is among those that leave a lasting impression.